Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801

Accident summary
Date	August 29, 1996
Type	Controlled flight into terrain
Site	Operafjellet mountain, Spitsbergen, Svalbard
Passengers	130
Crew	11
Injuries	0
Fatalities	141 (all)
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Tupolev Tu-154M
Operator	Vnukovo Airlines
Tail number	RA-85621

Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 was a chartered flight from the Russian company Vnukovo Airlines which on August 29, 1996 crashed into a mountain on Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago, killing all 141 people on board.

Contents 1 Plane 2 Flight 2.1 Landing and disaster 3 Recovery and investigation 4 See also 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Plane

The plane was a Tupolev Tu-154M which had been built in 1986. The plane was registered RA-85621.

[edit] Flight

The flight departed the Vnukovo Airport in Moscow at 04:44 GMT. The flight was en route to the Svalbard Airport, Longyear, Norway with Russian and Ukrainian coal mine workers and their relatives aboard.

[edit] Landing and disaster

The problems for Flight 2801 started on approach to the airport at Svalbard. The flight crew had prepared to land on runway 10 and started the descent at 07:56 GMT. However, because of the wind conditions the runway was being used in the opposite direction, as runway 28. The weather was cloudy at the time.

The flight crew requested landing on runway 10, but communications with the air traffic control at Svalbard were hampered by language difficulties, and the request was not granted. The crew elected to make a landing on runway 28, which required a change of direction.

The flight crew started to turn the plane to an inbound course at 08:17 GMT, 25.9 km from the airport. The radio altimeter warning sounded three times, first at 08:17:43 for six seconds, then again at 08:18:16 for two seconds and again at 08:18:21 for six seconds. The first officer disengaged the autopilot for pitch, while retaining it for roll.

The pilots turned the plane onto the revised landing course, but at 08:19 the first officer reported that they may have begun to turn too early, resulting in confusion in the cockpit as to the aircraft's position. At 08:21:36 GMT the navigator reported that they were flying too high and called for the plane to descend.

At 08:22:17 GMT, the Ground Proximity Warning System began warning of impact in nine seconds. The captain seeing the terrain cried out "Horizon!" while the first officer cried "Mountains!".

At 08:22:23 GMT (10:22:23 local time), the plane crashed into Operafjellet (The Opera Mountain) at an altitude of 907 m, 14 km away from the airport. The plane was 3.7 km to the right of the flight centreline when it struck the mountain. The crash killed all 141 people on board. It is the single deadliest plane crash to have occurred on Norwegian soil.

[edit] Recovery and investigation

The wreckage of the airplane was located at 10:06 GMT (12:06 local time), and salvage personnel were at the site half an hour later. Most of the wreckage had settled on a plateau, but large parts had fallen down a cliff. Much of it was covered by snow. It was quickly determined that there were no survivors. The recovery of bodies was completed by September 5.

The disaster had a profound impact of the small Russian mining communities Barentsburg and Pyramiden in Svalbard and may have hastened the abandonment of the Pyramiden settlement ^[1]. In Russian media, initial reports were that there were five survivors, something which caused impatience at what was perceived as a slow recovery effort.

The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder were recovered. The voice recorder was discovered by two Russian mountaineers who were arrested for searching the site, but then released and allowed to join the investigation ^[2].

The Norwegian investigation by the official disaster board determined that the crash had been an instance of controlled flight into terrain. They concluded that there were 18 significant factors which contributed to the accident ^[3].

1. Lack of procedure for offset localizer approach for setting approach course on the Horizontal Situation Indicator.
2. The wrong course chosen on both HSIs, which together with the Course Deviation Indicator hinted that the plane was being blown to the left and needed to adjust course to the right.
3. The navigator in a difficult situation with the landing course unclear.
4. The crew did not know all about the Aerodrome Flight Information Service, misinterpreting its information as orders.
5. Crew's lack of proficiency in English made communication with AFIS difficult.
6. The navigator was overworked.
7. The pilots did not check the navigator's work.
8. The direct communication between AFIS and the navigator was a breach of procedure.
9. The first officer had asked the navigator to handle the horizontal steering, thereby increasing the navigator's workload.
10. Unsatisfactory crew resource management.
11. A new approach briefing for landing at runway 28 instead of 10 had not been conducted.
12. The crew had correctly corrected course for wind, but did not do it in relation to the courses center line.
13. The HSI gave confusing indications, making the crew uncertain of their position.
14. The pilots did not have an approach map in front of them as they landed.
15. The crew were unaware of the possibility to use a VHF Direction Finding system to aid them.
16. Overreliance on the GPS system.
17. The attempt to land without full agreement on if the plane should steer left or right.
18. Not ascending to a safe altitude in spite of the confusion.

[edit] See also

• Aviation in Norway

[edit] References

^  Dagbladet:En moderne spøkelsesby (A modern ghost town) (in Norwegian)

^  Russian team defies Norwegians, finds plane's 2nd black box

^  Norwegian article on several Norwegian disasters PDF file, page 142 ("Flystyrt på Svalbard"), in Norwegian

[edit] External links

• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
• Cockpit Voice Recorder transcript
• Minister of Justice Grete Faremo's report to parliament (in Norwegian)

v • d • e ← 1995 Aviation accidents and incidents in 1996 1997→ Air Africa crash (January 8) — Birgenair Flight 301 (February 6) — Faucett Flight 251 (February 29) — 1996 Croatia USAF CT-43 crash (April 3) — ValuJet Flight 592 (May 11) — Eastwind Airlines Flight 517 (June 9) — Delta Air Lines Flight 1288 (July 6) — TWA Flight 800 (July 17) — Spair Airlines Flight PAR-3601 (August 19) — Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801 (August 29) — Aeroperú Flight 603 (October 2) — TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais Flight 402 (October 31) — Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision (Saudi Arabian 763 and Air Kazakhstan 1907) (November 12) — Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 (November 23) — 1996 New Hampshire Learjet crash (December 24) Bold indicates incidents resulting at least 50 deaths (current article is always in bold) Orange color indicates the deadliest incident in 1996